The government will take appropriate action against the manufacturers after a forensic investigation into incidents of fire in electric scooters, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.
"A total of four incidents of fire in two-wheeler EVs have been reported in the past week, and this is a very serious issue. We have ordered a forensic investigation into each of the individual events by experts of Centre for Fire Explosives, DRDO and IISc, Bengaluru," he said during Question Hour in Lok Sabha.
Insisting that India's standards for approval of EVs and batteries are in line with global standards, the minister said the government will take appropriate action after the exact technical reason behind the accidents is known.
"On the basis of the expert committee report, appropriate action against the manufacturer," he said, adding that the safety of vehicle users is our top priority.
However, he said, he felt that the apparent reason for these incidents was high temperatures.
To another question on electric vehicles, Gadkari said prices of all electric vehicles (EVs) will be equal to the cost of petrol vehicles in the country within two years.
As of March this year, a total of 10,95,746 electric vehicles were registered in India, with 1,742 charging stations being operable.
Talking about the battery swapping policy, Gadkari said out of the total, around 85% of lithium iron battery is being manufactured in India.
Gadkari said electric charging stations are to be provided with these wayside amenities. The NHAI has already awarded 39 wayside amenities and a proposal for 103 such facilities is at the bidding stage. More than 600 sites have been identified and the bids will be opened soon, he said.
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(Published 31 March 2022, 16:02 IST)
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